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Editors' notes

This paper documents the origins of the Bogardus Social Distance
scaling technique. Bogardus always attributed the idea behind the
scaling technique to Robert Park. It has become the primary (and most
widely used) example of the cumulative scaling technique mathematically
defined by Louis Guttman several years latter.

Thurstone took exception to the use of an purely conceptual approach
to measurement and had anthropologist Fred Eggan complete his University
of Chicago 1928 master's thesis, "An Experimental Study of Attitude
toward Races and Nationalities." Although never published, Thurstone
routinely mentioned it. By the end of his career, however, Thurstone was
confirming that, although the "equal appearing interval" structure that
he preferred was not present, both methods produced the same ordered
sequence.

Katz and Allport (we suspect acting as Thurstone's spokesmen) argued
that Bogardus's method lacked meaning scale intervals. Bogardus
responded by imbedding his primary items within a much larger set of
"social distance indicators," submitting the whole set to a Thurstonian
scaling procedure and estimating their scale values. The results
indicated that the intervals were, surprisingly, every bit as regular as
might be hoped.

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Social Distance and its Origin

Emory S. Bogardus
University of Southern California

SOCIAL distance refers to "the grades and degrees of understanding and
intimacy which characterize pre-social and social relations generally."[1]
The following experiments [2]
were
conducted to find out just
how and why these grades of understanding and intimacy vary. Two
hundred and forty-eight persons, chiefly members of two graduate and upper
division classes in social psychology, were asked to classify the following list
of racial and language groups in three columns, putting in the first column
those races toward which as races and not as individuals a friendly feeling was
felt; in column two, the races toward which a

Table I, Racial Groups

1. Armenian

13. German

25. Norwegian

2. Bulgarian

14. Greek

26. Portuguese

3. Bohemian

15. Hindu

27. Filipino

4. Canadian

16. Hungarian

28. Polish

5. Chinese

17. Irish

29. Roumanian

6. Czecho-Slovak

18. Italian

30. Russian

7. Dane

19. Japanese

31. Servian

8. Dutch

20. Jew-German

32. Scotch

9. English

21. Jew-Russian

33. Spanish

10. French

22. Mexican

34. Syrian

11. French-Canadian

23. Mulatto

35. Swedish

12. Finn

24. Negro

36. Turk

(217) feeling of neutrality was experienced; and in column three, the races
whose mention aroused feelings of antipathy and dislike.

Each person was then asked to re--copy the three columns: to rearrange column
one, putting first those races toward which the greatest degree of friendliness
was felt, and the others in order; to start off column two with the . races
toward which the nearest perfect degree of neutrality was experienced, and so
on; and to rearrange column three, putting first those races toward which the
greatest antipathy was experienced and then the others in order of decreasing
antipathy. Each person was also asked to give the races from which both his
father and mother were descended. Twenty-four races were represented, as
follows:

Table II. Race of the 248 Participants

English

174

Jew-Russian

3

Scotch

120

Japanese

3

Irish

109

Hungarian

2

German

86

Mulatto

2

French

65

Negro

2

Dutch

50

Norwegian

2

Canadian

8

Russian

2

Spanish

8

Armenian

1

Swedish

8

Bulgarian

1

Dane

4

French Canadian

1

Chinese

6

Italian

4

Filippino

1

Jew-German

4

Many persons were not sure of their racial descent, saying that they would
have to consult their parents or other relatives before they could be certain.
The extensive degree of this low, ebb in racial consciousness was
surprising;

(218) it was offset, however, in most cases by pronounced race antipathies.

The discussion of the races toward which friendly feeling was expressed and
of those to which a neutral reaction was made will be omitted here in order that
full space may be given to the "antipathy column." Suffice it to say that
friendly feeling was expressed in general toward the races to which the 248
judges themselves belonged, and that the "neutral feeling" column was composed
of races concerning which ignorance was expressed. "I don't know anything about
them" was a common answer.

The races toward which the greatest or prime antipathy was felt were
tabulated and are given in Table III.

Table III Races Against Which the Greatest Antipathy was Expressed

Turk

119

Servian

3

French

2

Negro

79

Russian

8

Roumanian

2

Mulatto

75

Czecho-Slovak

8

Spanish

2

Japanese

61

Syrian

6

Swedish

2

Hindu

44

Bulgarian

6

Canadian

0

Jew-German

42

Filipino

5

Dane

0

Mexican

41

Italian

5

Dutch

0

Jew-Russian

41

Bohemian

4

French

0

German

38

Finn

4

Canadian

0

Chinese

30

Polish

3

Norwegian

0

Greek

19

Irish

3

Scotch

0

Armenian

17

Portuguese

3

Hungarian

11

English

Table III gives interesting results, but it does not explain the reasons for
any of the antipathetic attitudes that were expressed. In order to penetrate
explanations and causes each of the 248 persons was asked to select the race for
which he felt the greatest antipathy and describe in detail the circumstances as
nearly as he could recall them

(219) under which this dislike originated and developed. Not his opinions but
his experiences direct and indirect were requested. It was asked that these be
written out as fully and freely as possible and with special attention to all
important details that occurred.

This personal experience data proved to be as enlivening and interesting as
the more formal data were colorless except as one was tempted to "read
into" them reactions of his own. The personal experience description
of the origins and development of racial antipathy fell into certain
classifications.

1. The first and largest grouping of materials was composed of traditions
and accepted opinion. It is clear after reading the data that hearsay
evidence coining from both one's personal friends and from relative strangers in
one's own "universe of discourse" who possess prestige. in one's own eyes are
widely influential in creating social distance. In the case of nearly every one
of the 119 persons who placed the Turks at the head of their antipathy columns
tradition and accepted opinion were the main, if not the only, factor operating.
This second--hand evidence came chiefly from one's elders, parents, preachers,
returned missionaries telling of massacres of Armenians by the Turks, newspaper
articles of a similar character, motion pictures showing Turks as "villains,"
and from. Armenian eye-witnesses of Turkish' cruelties. Many of the 119 persons
said that they had never seen a Turk, much less did they know even one.

The person who relies heavily on second-hand and hearsay racial reports
usually gives evidence of having entered imaginatively into them so often and so
thoroughly that they seem to have become his own personal experiences. Three
large chances for error enter into these handed-down traditions and opinions,
namely: (1) the possibility of erroneous observations in, the first place;
(2) the likelihood

(
220) of errors creeping into the repeating of these statements ; and (3) the
probability of entering into them imaginatively from the standpoint of one's own
peculiar biases and experiences rather than from the viewpoint of the persons
about whom they center. It is factors such as these which rule hearsay evidence
out of civil and criminal courts; and yet, in studying the origins of race
antipathy it appears that handed-down traditions and opinions greatly
predominate.

1. All my store of unpleasant reactions against the Turks is not based on any
personal knowledge of them. I do not even know a representative of this people;
never glimpsed a Turk in gentle or in savage mood, never, except in imagination.
But I have much second-hand knowledge. I have derived it from the lurid
headlines of newspapers, from magazine articles on revelations of
pseudo-political intrigue, from the stories dealing with the exotic life behind
the mysterious veil and barred window. In church I have heard of Turkish
atrocities to helpless missionaries. I have heard of the Turkish aversion to our
culture and ideal; talked of at dinner, at club meetings, and on the street.
Nowadays I hear of the young Turk, with his intellectual veneer but who is the
same unspeakable old Turk underneath.

2. When I was a young child my father one night at the dinner table spoke of
some of the cruel practices of the Turks, which made a deep impression on me and
perhaps started my aversion to the race. Another thing is a picture in a book of
my father's, in which a Turk is selecting a woman for his harem. Father's
prejudiced attitude of explanation together with the picture made a lasting
impression on me. In studying geography in school I learned of the Turks'
attitudes toward woman and this caused me to hate the race. In history classes
in high school I studied the Crusades and the Turks' cruelty impressed me. Later
I have read of the terrible massacres the Turks have committed. Parent, teacher,
and reading are the main sources of my hatred of the Turk.

3. I have never before really stopped and thought out the reasons why I
dislike the Turks and when I do I really don't know any logical reasons why I
should dislike them. When I was a child I always heard so much about the cruelty
of the Turks and the hor-

(
221) -rible tortures and persecutions they inflicted upon the Christians.
Hence, I have always pictured a Turk as a vile, greasy-looking individual with a
long curved knife in his mouth.

4. The dislike that creeps over me when I think of the Turks is not the
product of any intimate association with any of them, but is rather the result
of propaganda sponsored by the various molders of public opinion, such as the
press and the church. This propaganda has been directed against the extreme
cruelty, the debased morality, and the religion in whose name the acts of
cruelty and immorality have been perpetrated. I cannot divorce the Turk from the
slaughter of Armenians, neither from the despoiling of innocent girls and women.
When I was about seven years old I saw some moving pictures of the Turks. The
Turks seemed to have no morals or anything that I could admire; they were
uncouth and murderous animals instead of mend I believe that there is some good,
however, in the Turk. But I am so immersed in the pictures of his cruelty that I
feel unpleasant when I think of him.

II. Unpleasant racial sense impressions personally experienced in the
early years of life are many. Sometimes fear is aroused; again,
disgust. In either case there is a sensory image that is often described as
"horrifying." The fact that these images were experienced in childhood gives
them a more or less permanent character. Illustrations of the experiences
arousing fear are given in Cases 5-10.

5. We lived in a town in the middle west. My father was having some
improvements made about our residence and hired a negro to do the work. This
negro was an old darky of perhaps fifty odd years. He lived alone, in a little
shack; on the outskirts of the town. We children always called him "nigger
Martin" and our older brothers and sisters used to use this name when they
wanted anything done. "Nigger Martin will get you if you aren't good" meant more
than the words to us. The negro Martin was digging a large ditch near our house.
Of course child fashion we were there and observed everything that went on.
After awhile it became tiresome to us so we thought we'd have some fun. As he
threw up shovel-full after shovel-full of dirt we picked up pieces of dirt and
threw at him. He became angry (I don't blame him) and told us that if ever lie
caught us we'd "catch it." We ran and did not bother

(222) him again. The next clay he carne and continued the work. We came to
watch, and without the slightest warning he grabbed me into the ditch. I was so
frightened and I cried and screamed while the others went to tell father. When
he came and "saved" me I was a most happy but frightened girl. The name "nigger"
of any sort always frightened me from that day on. That incident and all our
training about the negro has naturally made me dislike and fear them.

6. My father used to rent land to the Japanese to raise strawberries on. One
evening long past bed time we heard loud cries issuing from the quarters where
the Japanese were living. Father rushed over and found that a Japanese from a
neighboring farm had tried to kill one of the Japanese at our place with a hoe.
The latter seized an iron rod and had laid out the former. My father was never
able to find out the real cause. As I was very young I was much frightened at
the noise. I was also afraid that my Daddy might be killed in the mix-up. Many
nights after that I would jump from my sleep believing that the Japanese were
attacking me. My prejudice against them dated from that night and I have never
been able to overcome that distrust.

7. One afternoon I started from our hotel for a walk and I became lost. Until
then the white robes and wrapped heads of the Turkish shop keepers had thrilled
me. But when I discovered that I was "cut off" from the rest of the world -my
world at least - I saw only very black eyes and sneering smiles. I asked my way
and was greeted with a stream of broken English and wild gestures. As I hurried
up the little street I seemed to be followed and surrounded by Turks. Even the
recent Sheik vogue has not reconciled me to Turkish people.

8. My first encounter with the Negro was in Louisville, Kentucky, where I
went to dinner at a hotel and happened to look into the kitchen where a colored
man was preparing the food. At the sight of this black face, offset with those
terrible white whites of the eye, I was unable to eat my dinner, and so I left
the table and went to my room.

9. When I was small we lived next to a farm cultivated by a Turk, and as we
rode past his house he would throw rocks at us and make lots of noise. His face
had a look of cruelty, and as I remember it now I can imagine his doing some of
the things I read that they do in Turkey.

10. When I was about eight years old I went for a hike in the hills and on
returning I had to pass through' some Chinese vege-

(
223) -table gardens where a Chinese was seemingly picking strawberries. When
I came along he jumped out and grabbed at me, but I started running with him
running close after me. He yelled something at me in Chinese. Finally I reached
home, but ever after that I have been much afraid of Chinamen.

III. The illustrations of disgust as a type of sensory impressions
leading to race antipathy are numerous. Frequently disgust and fear, as in Case
15, are aroused together. In Case 14 the emotion of disgust has been thought
about until it has become almost a definitely organized sentiment.

11. I don't like them (Germans) because two-thirds of them are square-headed,
pig-headed - and fat too. They try to domineer and cow their wives. I don't like
their voices-thick and gutteral - nor their avoirdupois.

12. I spent several weeks at a summer resort in Michigan where there were
many wealthy Jews, who made a great display of their wealth, wore a great amount
of flashy jewelry and expensive clothes and yet they were most penurious when
paying for board, lodging, or souvenirs. These experiences gave me the
impression that Jews are greedy, miserly, selfish, egotistical, fond of display,
because the individuals I came in contact with had these characteristics.

13. When I was five my parents brought me to California and I entered a
school where I was forced to meet Armenians continually. In high school
one-fourth to one-third, were Armenians. No one desired to sit in class beside a
repulsive-looking, vile-smelling, and yet insolent Armenian. Continual feuds
kept the school in a seething tumult. To one who liked good old Anglo-Saxon
names, the varous of the Armenian ian was repulsive. It is almost
tragic to see a beautiful old home, now ill-kept and swarming with a truly
Rooseveltian family of Armenians. During the time I lived in Fresno I saw
nothing in the Armenian to make him endurable. Industry and the ability to
out-Jew a Greek are his only useful characteristics. As I saw him, he is filthy,
stingy, insolent, forward, and unattractive physically, mentally, and morally.
Oppressed in Eurasia, the Armenian swells with unnatural expansion when, here in
America, the oppression is no longer felt.

(
224)

14. "Let the Chinese be damned of body and soul" has been the by-word of the
English toward my innocent people for more than half a century. Although one of
the oldest and outstanding Christian nations of the world, she has poisoned the
body and mind of a generation of Chinese through the opium traffic. She is
continuing this treachery with greater effort. This is unthinkable; that a
God-fearing, out-and-out Christian nation is peddling a drug of that nature in
this day and age. I cannot tolerate hypocrisy in any individual; then should I
tolerate a nation as such? Decent society outlaws dope peddlers; therefore
decent civilization in like manner should outlaw nations as such.

15. When I was about twelve years old I went to Mexico with my father. It was
about the time the United States was having trouble with Mexico (1916). Some
Mexican soldiers were passing by; my father was looking in another
direction; one of the Mexican men standing near tried to grab me. Probably he
wanted ransom. He was so disgusting. He was such a coward and sneak and ever
afterward I disliked all Mexicans. It seems to me that they will do almost
anything when your back is turned.

IV. Unpleasant race impressions experienced in adulthood are also
common. As a, rule these anti-racial attitudes represent a generalization of
experiences with one or a few individuals of the given race. Although there may
be a recognition that the given experiences have been related to the less
socially developed members of, the race in question or from non-typical
individuals the aversion is likely to spread to the whole race. Again, fear
and disgust prevail.

16. I have spent about all my life along the Mexican, border; in Mexico,
Arizona and Sonora, and also California and Baja California. While working with
a Mexican you have to watch him, that is, if you have anything he is liable to
want. At one time a Mexican worked for us several months. He was friendly and a
conscientious worker. When the work was over the Mexican left with no feeling on
either side. The next night he came back and stole my best saddle. I got the
saddle back but it did not increase my love for a Mexican. Five Mexicans came
into a border store

(225) and shot three of my schoolmates. One of my near relatives spent six
months in a Mexican prison. He was never given a trial and was finally released
without one. Three Mexicans murdered one of our neighbors and beat up his wife
and children so badly that it was three days before any of them could tell the
story. These Mexicans were never caught but two others were hanged for the
crime. Three of my father's cousins were killed by Mexicans; one of my uncles
was killed and another maimed for life by Mexicans. One of my schoolmates helped
tear down a Mexican flag; he was caught at four o'clock in the afternoon and by
seven o'clock had been sentenced to face the firing squad the next morning at
five. His father went alone and unarmed and by swearing â lot took his son from
the Mexican j ail.

17. I once had a job where I was asked to work beside a Negro at the same
bench. His attitude of arrogance and superiority soon turned me against him. His
low morality was evidenced by the stories and experiences he told. This gave me
the impression that all Negroes are bad.

18. When I first carne to college I met a number of Filippino men students. I
was as cordial to them as I was to any of the other foreign students, but the
Filippino men made advances and assumed a certain familiarity which I resented.
and. disliked. They, more than any other foreign group, seemed to be so
ambitious of becoming intimate friends with American girls. Several of my
friends have had similar experiences with this group.

19. I took a check from a well-known Hindu, while working in a department
store, and upon calling the bank found that there were no funds to meet it. When
the manager investigated lie found that the Hindu had five accounts, and that he
would transfer his money from one to another every two months arid write checks
on the account just closed. I have found that many Hindus have instructed the
banks not to cash any checks drawn on them that are not signed in both' Latin
script and in their own hieroglyphics, and sometimes require that a check bear
the thumb-print of its writer.

CASE 20. My boss is a Russian Jew, arid not a bad mail to work for at times,
except that he always expects too much of a person. Outside of being my boss he
is a good fellow and I hold nothing against him. But there are hundreds of Jews
in the neighborhood, and lie is one of the few I can say this about. I actually
hate to see the majority of them come into the store. They expect you to wait on
them first and let the others wait. No matter what you do for

(
226) them they are never satisfied. They enter the store with a sarcastic
expression on their faces that makes you want to throw them out. They usually
get excited and become very insulting. I have actually known American ladies to
walk out of the store when the boss gets excited, and needless to say, men walk
out in order to prevent a fight.

In asking for data the writer specifically requested that "experiences" only
be described and generalization and denunciation be avoided; the latter
procedure, however, crept into nearly all the papers ; it averaged half the
space in nearly fifty per cent of all the papers and was the only characteristic
of a few, especially of those whose antipathetic feeling was pronounced. Later
personal interviews with representative individuals showed that this practice
was due not to a desire to dodge the issue, but to a widespread habit of
generalizing first and then belatedly of examining actual experiences and of
analyzing these.

Moreover, this generalization habit was usually on the basis, first of
tradition and opinion, and second, of experiences with a few individuals from
the lower levels of a "despised race," or with a few better class individuals
showing their worst natures to their "enemies" -- something not necessarily
peculiar to any race. Sometimes a. single sensory image engendering fear or
disgust or both, and experienced in childhood, is the basis of a generalization
against a whole race. While there are definite feeling bases of an inherited
nature that lead naturally to race antipathies, unscientific generalizations
upon a few personal outstanding adverse experiences or upon many adverse
traditions is an outstanding datum.

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